We arrived at 9.00 at Wycombe Abbey Children’s Centre and we had to sign in and take a name badge.

Soon the parents arrived and sat down to enjoy tea and toast and chat to each other. Their children went off happily to play with the toys that were out for them. We were just observing and learning about what goes on.

After a while we joined in with the children and we led activities like play dough and sticking and glueing. The children were lovely and we really enjoyed working with them. Some of them were a bit shy to begin with but they got used to us as the day went on. Others were excited to see us right from the start! One little boy, James, wanted us to play with his truck.

At lunchtime the parents and children went home and we spent some time clearing up all the mess. You can’t believe how much mess 16 little children can make!!! The play dough seemed to get everywhere. When it was all tidy, we sat down for lunch with the staff and got to know them a bit better.

Soon another group of parents arrived with babies this time- under 6 months. We chatted to the mums and played with the babies. They cried a lot and we tried our hardest to keep them happy and quiet.

A lady called Rachel led a session on how to calm the babies using music. This session was called Baby Beats. The music was on her ipod and it seemed quite effective as most of the babies went quiet. She also helped the parents to relax by focusing on positive thoughts. We found her ideas very interesting and useful.

When the mothers and babies had left we were able to talk to Rachel and help her tidy up. Before we left, we had a cup of tea with Debbie and Kate and Mel and wrote up our feedback for the day. We felt that it had been a really positive experience. Debbie and Kate were very complimentary to us and said we would be very welcome to come back for work experience.

We received a certificate and then it was time to go home and recover from our busy day!